EXPOSED: Hotel Migrants Pedalling for Profit on YOUR Pound
They’re meant to be fleeing persecution – but it seems some migrants have found a speedier route to cash than compassion.
In a scandal that’ll leave taxpayers spitting out their Friday night curry, asylum seekers are illegally pocketing up to £1,000 a week as delivery riders while lounging in hotels funded by YOU.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp discovered the racket after making an unannounced visit to a London asylum hotel, where he filmed bikes sporting Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats delivery bags. The Tory MP for Croydon South didn’t mince his words, blasting Labour for allowing illegal working to flourish right under their noses.
It’s happening at the very hotels your Home Office is running,” he fumed in a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. Talk about taking taxpayers for a ride!
The £40 Loophole That’s Costing Britain Millions
Here’s how the scam works – and it’s as simple as ordering a Big Mac through an app.
According to The Sun’s investigation, migrants are being offered Deliveroo and Just Eat accounts “within 10 minutes of asking” through social media groups. Posing as a small-boat arrival from Afghanistan, an undercover reporter was “quickly flooded with offers from all over the country.
The going rate? As little as £40 a week for login details. That’s less than most of us spend on a decent takeaway!
These chancers then work 15-hour shifts, using their taxpayer-funded hotels as bases for bikes, bags and uniforms. And the payoff? Some are raking in as much as £1,000 every week – all while asylum rules strictly forbid them from working.
Pedalling Through a Legal Minefield
The dodge exploits what was meant to be a flexible working arrangement. Companies check riders can work legally, but a “small minority” have taken advantage by letting unchecked substitutes use their accounts.
Last April, after pressure from then-immigration minister Michael Tomlinson, all three delivery giants promised to introduce “enhanced security checks”. Fat lot of good that’s done!
A shocking 42% of riders stopped by enforcement teams over six days in April 2023 were found to be working illegally, according to a freedom of information request. Nearly half! You couldn’t make it up.
Labour’s Limp Response
So what’s Labour doing about this scandal? Well, Downing Street says Border Security Minister Angela Eagle will be meeting with delivery companies next week to “address the issue.
Another meeting? Another chat? Meanwhile, the bikes keep rolling and the meters keep running.
Dame Eagle did boast that since Labour took power, they’ve “returned more than 24,000 people who have no right to be here”. But what good’s that when thousands more are earning illegally from hotels we’re paying for?
The Home Office insists it’s getting tough, with arrests for illegal working up 51% since Labour took office. They’re also promising new laws to extend right-to-work checks across the gig economy, with fines of up to £60,000 per illegal worker.
Hotels Turned Into Hubs for the ‘Dark Economy’
The scale of this racket is mind-boggling. GB News found thousands of Facebook groups selling delivery profiles daily. One London hotel has become such a hub for illegal riders it had to erect six-foot-high black fences to hide hundreds of £1,000-valued unregulated e-bikes parked outside.
These aren’t just ordinary pushbikes either. Many migrants share illegal e-bikes modified to exceed speed limits. One Middle Eastern courier couldn’t even identify basic road signs – mistaking Give Way for No Entry. Terrifying!
Paying Off the People Smugglers
Perhaps most galling is why they’re doing it. Many wire money back home to cover loans used to pay criminal gangs for Channel crossings.
One trafficker in Dunkirk, charging £1,370 for a crossing, promised potential customers: “You’ll find work very easily. There are easy jobs you can do while staying in hotels they put you in.
Gholam, a 26-year-old Afghan staying at a Home Office hotel, admitted he “technically” shouldn’t be working but needed to repay family loans for smuggler fees. He’s sending £300 monthly back home.
What the Delivery Giants Say
After being caught with their apps down, the companies are scrambling to save face.
Just Eat claims it’s “continuously strengthening” its approach and has “rolled out the next phase of substitute checks with enhanced biometric verification”. Riders now face random facial recognition tests.
Deliveroo says it was “the first major platform to roll out direct right to work checks” and uses daily identity verification.
But if these measures are so brilliant, why are asylum hotels still packed with delivery bikes?
The Bottom Line
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick called it “another appalling abuse of our immigration system. He’s not wrong.
While British workers struggle with the cost-of-living crisis, migrants who aren’t allowed to work are earning more than many legal employees – all while living rent-free at taxpayers’ expense.
The asylum system’s meant to protect the genuinely persecuted. Instead, it’s become a conveyor belt for illegal workers, with delivery apps as willing accomplices and taxpayers picking up the tab.
Next time you order a takeaway and wonder why it’s taking so long, spare a thought – your rider might be pedalling straight from a hotel you’re paying for.
Now that really is food for thought.
